Focused on What Matters
A typical day for Mark involves going to the gym, a cup of coffee, and walking his dog — a spunky dachshund and Jack Russell terrier mix.
“He is a wonderful little dog,” Mark said. “Each day, he looks at me and just follows me until I walk him.”
After graduating from San Diego State University, Mark used his biology degree to teach high school science for more than two decades. Now that he’s retired, he says, he gets to “do anything I want to.”
“I even played some disc golf for a while,” Mark said. “It’s a lot of fun!”
Since 2016, Mark’s been living with renal cell carcinoma, also called kidney cancer. Staying busy with his wife Lee, dog, and friends, he says, is key to keeping cancer off his mind.
“I try to be hopeful and not think about it,” he said. “When I think about what I’m going to do each day, it kind of goes away.”
Back in 2016 when Mark was first diagnosed with cancer, he had one of his kidneys removed in hopes of stopping the spread. But in 2020, a biopsy confirmed the cancer had returned.
“I don’t cry much, but I broke down,” he said. “It turned my world upside down. I never thought it’d be me.”
When Mark and Lee heard the cost of treatment — $7,000 a bottle — they were overwhelmed.
“That would be every penny we have, plus savings,” Mark said. “We would be absolutely broke.”
Their fixed income meant the couple faced a gut-wrenching choice.
“It’s like, can I pay for my medication?” he said. “Or am I going to pay to eat and pay my bills? I couldn’t leave my wife out in the cold.”
Mark’s specialty pharmacy referred him to The Assistance Fund’s Renal Cell Carcinoma Copay Assistance Program. The program provides financial assistance for out-of-pocket costs for all FDA-approved treatment for the disease, such as copays, deductibles, and coinsurance. His application was approved within minutes.
“TAF saved my life and my mental ease,” Mark said. “It would have been so devastating to have to pull all this money out.”
Now, Mark is focused on what matters to him: volunteering and spending time with his family. He’s surrounded by a large extended family — over 300 family members attended their last reunion.
“I’m so grateful,” he said.
